French propaganda poster about German attrocities

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This French poster tried to prove that the crimes committed by the German army against civilian populations were premeditated. To do so, quotations from Hindenburg, and the Kriegsbauch (German instructions to their troops), were printed in the colours of Imperial Germany.
The language and the iconography of the poster strongly suggested that the war was a struggle between good and evil. Portraying Germany as the enemy of both individual freedom and international treaties was an attempt to mobilise, or remobilise, the rear. From 1915, the morale of the Home Front was constantly falling and reached a particularly low point following the failure of the Nivelle offensive during the months of March and April 1917.

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Atrocity propaganda focused on the most violent acts committed by the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, emphasising their barbarity and providing justification for the conflict. Professor Jo Fox describes the forms that such propaganda took in the early years of the war.